- Written by William Shakespeare in 1605
- Macbeth is a man who overthrows the rightful King of Scotland
- Shakespeare wrote Macbeth at the beginning of King James I reign
- Before James succeeded Elizabeth I he was king of Scotland
- Placing the play in James’ homeland probably pleased him
- Will the real Macbeth please stand up?
- Macbeth was a real king of Scotland
- He did kill King Duncan
- Reigned from 1040-1057
- Unlike the Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play
- The real Macbeth had a legitimate claim to the throne
- The real Macbeth was a strong leader
- The real Macbeth’s reign was successful
- The real Macbeth was killed at Lumphanan as opposed to Dunsinane
- Connections for British Society
- “Remember, remember the fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…” - In November 1605 the Gunpowder Plot was discovered
- Guy Fawkes and his followers (Roman Catholics) planned to blow up Parliament
- They wanted to bring down the British government and put a Catholic rulers on the throne
- The plot was discovered and the men involved were tried and killed as traitors
- Shakespeare sided with the king and seemed to think that a play about treason and death would find an audience at this time
- So this is a comedy… right?
- Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies (it is also his shortest)
- Aside from the violent nature of the plot Shakespeare uses several literary devices to enhance the feeling of evil
- He creates a serious and sinister mood by having most of the play take place at night
- There is a heavy emphasis on the supernatural (witches, dreams, spells, and ghosts)
- A little taste of Macbeth
Macbeth Act 1 – Scene 1
- Witches – Supernatural influences
- “Fair being Foul” – Paradox
- King Duncan – Scotland
- Duncan’s sons- Malcolm and Donaldbain
- Generals – Macbeth and Banquo
- Thunder , lightning , and rain – sense of doom
Macbeth Act 1 – Scene 2
- Macdonaldwald’s rebellion
- Ross tells Duncan of Norway’s rebellion – King of Norway – Sweno
- Thane of Cawdor rebels against Duncan
- Scotland wins – Macbeth gets title – Thane of Cawdor – “ THE SPOILS OF WAR”
- Macbeth and Banquo – “Two spent swimmers”
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3
- The witches first prophesy has come true – Thane of Cawdor
- Macbeth – “So foul and fair a day , I have not seen – recalls witches first scene
- Banquo – “The instrument of darkness tell us truths – only to betray us”
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 4
- Execution of Cawdor
- “You can’t tell what is in a person’s heart by looking at his face”
- “Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it”
- Duncan- Malcolm to be King
- Macbeth- “Let not light see my black and deep desires”
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5
- Macbeth’s home – Castle of Inverness
- Lady Macbeth comes up with plan to kill Duncan – Husband weak
- “The milk of human kindness”
- Lady Macbeth – Must pour spirits in their ear. (Hamlet killed that way)
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 6
- Lady Macbeth – chameleon – perfect hostess
- Duncan’s speech full of dramatic irony – “castle pleasant” – “air is sweeter” sees a martlet (a summer bird)
- to Duncan the castle appears to be a paradise
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 7
- LadyMacbeth – convinces Macbeth to do the “horrid deed”
- Macbeth’s Soliloquy – marked by confusion
Duncan – Kinsman and his subject , a good King and virtuous man , a popular King , and death would bring sorrow to Scotland - Lady Macbeth Argument- “What could have been when he can be King” – “ Would kill her own baby to do this”
Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1
- Past midnight – Moon has set and the “Candles” of heaven cannot be seen – dark brooding
- Banquo draws sword – irony doesn’t know Macbeth is going to kill Duncan
- Dagger Speech – Mental disturbance
- “Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand?” —Macbeth, 2.1.42–3
Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2
- Lady Macbeth – “That which have made them drunk, hath made me bold, What hath quenched them have given me fire”
- Drunk with boldness and on fire with passion
- Lady Macbeth -would have murdered Duncan had he not looked like her father
- Macbeth has two concerns – he has murdered sleep , bloodiness of deed
- Lady Macbeth – blood is only like paint wash it off
- Knocking – knocking of their consciences actual knock
- “With all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?”—Macbeth, 2.2.78–9
Macbeth Act 2 Scene 3
- Porter – light comedy
- farmer and equivocator have specific religious and historical connotations
- A few months before Macbeth performed – Gunpowder plot – King James Guy Fawkes and John Garnett (nickname the farmer)
- Lennox – extraordinary weather -unnatural events – The universe and events related
- Equivocation – The practice of lying in court about one’s religion
- Lady Macbeth faints when Macbeth proclaims he has killed the guards – avenge the act of treasonous malice – not in the plan
- Malcolm – England
- Donalbain – Ireland
- Macbeth says he has killed servants – Lady Macbeth faints
- Macbeth and other Thanes swear to meet “in manly rediness” to avenge this act of “treasonous malice”
- “ There’s daggers in men’s smiles”
- Donaldbain – Ireland
- Malcolm – England
Macbeth Act 2 Scene 4
- Macbeth has become King
- Donaldbain and Malcolm have fled
- Old Man – Traditional figure in lit represents what “has been”
- owl kills falcon – daylight has been replaced by night – horses of the King’s stable have eaten each other
- The world he has known has been turned on its head
Macbeth Act 3 Scene 1
- Banquo suspects Macbeth – gains comfort from 2nd prediction – his own children will be Kings
- Even with new title Macbeth does not feel at ease
- calls murderers dogs but he shows his inhumanity and imperfections -also wants to kill Fleance
Act 3 Scene 2
- Macbeth plans murder not Lady Macbeth
- Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s world not at peace
- Macbeth wants to get rid of his bond with humanity
- “We have scorched the snake, not killed it.”—Macbeth, 3.2.15
- “Duncan is in his grave; After lifeʼs fitful fever he sleeps well.”—Macbeth, 3.2.24–5
Act 3 Scene 3
- Banquo killed – Murderers lantern extinguished – Fleance escapes
- Forces of darkness are at odds with light
- Murderers capable of poetry
- Escape of Fleance turning point – Peripeteia – sudden reversal of fortune
- Banquo’s dying words “to revenge”
Act 3 Scene 4
- Macbeth has Thanes of Scotland over – Macduff not there
- Murderers tell Macbeth what happened – Macbeth losses it
- Macbeth sees ghost – goes into a fit
- Macbeth has lost control
- Macbeth will kill Macduff and visit three sisters
- “It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood.” —Macbeth, 3.4.152–53
Act 3 Scene 5
- Hecate joins three sisters
- Some say this scene was not in the orginal play
Act 3 Scene 6
- Lennox reveals doubts about Macbeth – Did he kill the guards hastily?
- Macduff has fled to England to join forces with Malcolm also asks help from King Edward of England
Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1
- “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”—Witches, 4.1.10–1
- Macbeth goes to weird sisters and demands to be shown apparitions of the future
- 1. disembodied head of a warrior who warns Macbeth of revenge
- 2. blood-covered child who cannot be killed by any man “ of woman born”
- 3. a child wearing a crown promises Macbeth cannot lose in battle until Birnam wood moves to Dunsinane
- Macbeth asks about Banquo’s sons and sees a procession of Banquo and future kings
- Macbethless future
- Macduff has fled to England and Macbeth announces revenge of Macduff’s wife and children
- “I’ll make assurance double sure.”—Macbeth, 4.1.93
Act 4 Scene 2
- Lady Macduff feels Macduff has acted dishonestly
- Son says the world is full of dishonest men
Act 4 Scene 3
- “At one fell swoop.”—Macduff, 4.3.256
- Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty – says he would be a great tyrant – reverse psychology
- Macduff still hates Macbeth – Malcolm has gotten what he wants Macduff’s loyalty
- Ross tells him of the slaughter of wife and child – Macduff vows revenge
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 1
- “Out, damned spot! out, I say!”—Lady Macbeth, 5.1.31
- “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” —Lady Macbeth, 5.1.46–7
- “What’s done cannot be undone.”—Lady Macbeth, 5.1.62–3
- Played in dark except one candle
- Lady Macbeth has gone mad – sleepwalks and tells fragments of events
- overheard by doctor and lady-in-waiting
- Lady Macbeth is seen rubbing her hands – (quotes at the beginning)
- Lady Macbeth needs a “divine”
- Spiritual darkness – 1 candle
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 2
- Four lords of Scotland – Lennox, Mentith, Angus, and Caithness resolve to join Malcolm and English forces who are at Birnam Wood
- Caithness speech – warrior hero – valiant fury – but not righteous – “ Distemper’d Cause”
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 3
- Macbeth dismisses reports of invasion ( confident tyrant)
- Trusts the prophecies
- Servant ( cream faced lilly livered) announces huge army
- Doctor tells of Lady Macbeth
- “ yellow leaf” – fall of his own reputation
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 4
- English and Scotish armies under leadership of Malcolm meet at Birnam Wood
- Malcolm orders soldiers to cut a branch and carry it in front of them as camouflage “To shadow the number of our host”
- taken from Holinshed’s Chronicles – 1577
- Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5
- Macbeth fully armed – brave rhetoric
- shriek offstage – The queen is dead
- Birnam Wood appears to have uprooted itself advancing towards Dunsinane
- Shakespeare – Power-seeking tyrants tend toward self-destruction
- “I have supped full with horrors.”—Macbeth, 5.5.14 – Banquo’s ghost
- “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.”—Macbeth, 5.5.21
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 6
- Malcolm and his troops have reached Dunsinane
- Siward first to advance – age
- Macduff order of troops- discipline – harbinger or sign of what is to come
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 7
- Macbeth challenged by son of Siward
- Macbeth’s forces have surrendered Dunsinane Castle
- “They have tied me to a stake: I cannot fly”
- kills young Siward – “Thou wast born of woman”
- Macduff – ironic timing- takes place of Siward
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 8
- Macbeth and Macduff finally face to face
- words are tossed
- Macbeth ponders suicide but hey I can’t die
- Macduff tells him he entered the world “Untimely ripp’d” from mothers womb
- Macbeth realizes witches are “imperfect speakers”
- Macbeth dies
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 9
- Malcolm proclaimed new king of Scotland
- true friends “we miss” loyalty he will rule with graciousness and humility
- Macduff enters with Macbeth’s head
